Rainwater Capture

Even though water is so cheap, some of my neighbors think it's worthwhile collecting rainwater. The lady who lives here says she uses it for mopping the floor and watering plants - not, it seems, for flushing the toilet.

Plastic Agriculture

Taiwanese farmers use a lot of plastic, but the more I think about it, the more I understand it. Plastic sheeting (like the stuff shown here) retains moisture and stops weed growth. With regard to the second goal, it may be preferable to pesticides. But a lot of it stays on the ground, chewed up into little pieces and bleached by the sun. What will the landscape be like in 50 years if this continues?

Water Profligacy On The KMRT

Just over a week ago, I took my first trip on Kaohsiung's new MRT system. It seems to work well, but I did notice that the urinals in the men's toilets bear stickers reading "3 liters per flush."

This struck me as a lot more water than strictly needed; surely a liter would be enough. But I'm not surprised. Cheap water in Taiwan means water-efficient toilets are not a priority.

Waterless urinals are described in this article.

Water-saving Super Toilets

A Taiwanese professor has invented a water-saving toilet that uses just four liters of water per flush, two-thirds of the amount used by other water-efficient toilets. Regular toilets, apparently, use about nine liters per flush.

According to the report, the toilet will be manufactured in China and go on sale in the US next year. But don't expect them to appear anytime soon in Taiwan's green buildings. The report says the toilet is unlikely be introduced to Taiwan's market in the near future, "because the price... would be significantly higher than that of a standard unit and the size of the domestic market is limited."

And, as has been pointed out again and again, Taiwan's ridiculously low water prices mean there's no incentive to invest in water-saving technology.

EPA Chief Wants Higher Utility Prices

The Taipei Times today published an interview with the chief of the Environmental Protection Administration, Winston Dang. It seems he has read and agrees with the recent TAIWAN BUSINESS TOPICS article on water and electricity pricing:

"Many of the nation's politicians lack vision in terms of environmental policies -- a fearless politician should go ahead and say, `I'm going to charge more for water and electricity from now on,'" he said. "When water and electricity are too cheap, no businesses would be willing to invest in water treatment, seawater desalinization facilities or renewable energy technologies. Users of water and electricity would also not realize the extent of the world's shortage."

Dang also mentions nuclear power (he doubts it can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions), renewable energy, river cleanups, and the Suhua Freeway project (for arguments in favor of the road, click here; for arguments against, click here).

The list of things he doesn't mention is very long: Public transportation vs. car usage; green buildings; household recycling and garbage incineration...

He may, of course, be out of a job very soon, depending who wins the imminent presidential election.

The Consequences of Cheap Power, Water

According to this article in TAIWAN BUSINESS TOPICS, the monthly English-language magazine published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, electricity is cheaper here in Taiwan than in several comparable economies:

"Households pay an average of NT$2.57 per kilowatt-hour versus NT$3.33 in Singapore, NT$3.8 in Hong Kong, and NT$5.94 in Japan, according to data provided by Taipower..."

"[D]emand is still rising... Taiwan's purchases of fossil fuels rose by 4 percent last year... power demand [is] growing by 2 percent to 4 percent each year."

It also deflates the idea that increasing electricity prices would force manufacturing offshore:

"Most experts interviewed for this report thought that low tariffs will not affect decisions made by Taiwan's companies on whether to stay on the island or move production offshore. They point out that companies wishing to move operations to China or Southeast Asia to save costs have already done so, while those remaining in Taiwan see obvious benefits from being here..."

While discussing electricity, the article seems concerned solely with Taipower's financial woes, and how those might impact power capacity and supplies in the future. When it turns to water, however, environmental issues do get a mention:

"From badly polluted rivers to a shortage of sand on Taiwan's beaches, a range of severe environmental, economic, and infrastructure difficulties can be traced back to the low water prices."

An expert is quoted as saying:

"'The more you use, the cheaper it gets. This gives the public no incentive to save water.' In fact, economists say, it results in those who conserve water actually subsidizing water wasters."

"...20 percent of Singapore's water supply comes from recycling sewage. The water is used for cooling towers, gardening, street washing, and other functions aside from human consumption, but the downside is that building sewage-treatment plants is expensive. 'In comparison, Taiwan is not even close to having an integrated water-management philosophy'."

C02 Estimates On Power, Water Bills

Both Taipower, the government-owned electricity generation and distribution company, and the Taiwan Water Corp. now add short statements to their bills to households, notifying consumers how much CO2 they're responsible for. I'm not sure exactly when they started doing this; looking through my old bills, all I can say is that Taipower have been doing it since at least July 2007.

For some months before that, every bill featured a standard note linking electricity consumption with CO2 emissions.

Both utilities now use exactly the same wording, stating (in Chinese only): "The amount of electicity/water you have used has caused CO2 emissions of X kilograms."

The estimates appear in the top right corner of the bills. They're rather small (68mm x 14mm) and the font is probably too small for many people to read comfortably. I'll be asking local friends if they've noticed it or not...

In this July 2006 document, Taipower says it is responsible for more than 30 percent of Taiwan's total CO2 emissions.

One of Taipower's coal-fired power stations emits more CO2 than any other electricity generation facility in the world, according to this report.